Lawmakers boost funding for senior services. State lawmakers Tuesday approved a package of bills that earmark about $10 million during the next two years for services and staff to support seniors. Star-Advertiser.

Legislature Approves Spending Millions For Elderly Care. Funding for kupuna care programs were some of the outstanding big ticket items that weren’t included in the state’s operating budget in March. Civil Beat.

8 homeless shelters don’t meet new standards, but will be funded anyway. The state has had to throw out the results of its latest bids from homeless shelter providers after eight of 34 homeless shelters failed to meet new quality standards. Hawaii News Now.

DOE Lays Out A 10-year ‘Road Map’ For Fixing Old Schools, Building New Ones. A long-range DOE facilities plan has identified $7 billion in “top priority” capitol needs, from adding more classrooms to repairing aging schools. Civil Beat.

State seeks ‘safe harbor’ for financial institutions that do business with medical marijuana dispensaries. Star-Advertiser.

Minimum Wage Increase Could Help Over 200,000 Workers, Report Says. The Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice analyzed the demographics of workers who could be impacted by an increase. Civil Beat.

Ozawa-Waters Race Highlights Flaws in Hawaii's Voting System. Problems counting mail-in ballots and an extremely small margin created chaos in the 2018 Honolulu City Council election between Tommy Waters and Trevor Ozawa. Several bills at the legislature aim to correct those problems. Hawaii Public Radio.

Hawaii Rep. Ed Case Raised 99% Of Campaign Money From PACs. The congressman raised nearly $78,000 during the first quarter of 2019. Only $425 came from individual donors. Civil Beat.

Commentary: Why, Tulsi, Why? Her fans cried, “Run, Tulsi, Run.” But now the Hawaii congresswoman’s presidential campaign is sputtering and the big question is why is she staying in the race? Civil Beat.

Statewide solar electric permits in Hawaii decline in Q1. Oahu and the Big Island experienced year-over-year first quarter decreases in the number of solar photovoltaic installation permits while Kauai and Maui had slight increases, according to data compiled by Marco Mangelsdorf, president of Big Island-based ProVision Solar. Pacific Business News.

Oahu

Honolulu Salary Commission Approves Pay Raises For Top City Officials. Barring any action by the City Council, most of Honolulu's top officials will get a 3.5% pay raise this year. Hawaii Public Radio.

A bill designed to give owners of apartment-size lots enough incentive to develop affordable rentals is up for a key vote before the Honolulu City Council today. Star-Advertiser.

City Council to vote on a long-awaited Waikiki park project. A vacant lot will become a gated green area in Waikiki with the approval of what would become Centennial Park in a vote today before the Honolulu City Council. Star-Advertiser.

Lawmakers Agree to Emergency Funds For Pali Highway. The $7 million approved by lawmakers Tuesday is less than half of the $15 million requested by the Senate in March. Civil Beat.

State regulators push to relocate Red Hill fuel tanks as Navy studies potential new sites. The Navy pumps fuel from its Red Hill tanks to its piers at Pearl Harbor. Hawaii News Now.

New sit-lie enforcers proposed. The homeless population in Chinatown has grown by about 30 percent, according to the chairwoman of the area's neighborhood board. KHON2.

=====

A Division of Fish and Wildlife employee and two representatives of the nonprofit Pacific Rim Conservation survive helicopter crash near Sacred Falls. A pilot and three passengers walked away from a helicopter that lost power and crashed Tuesday morning in a gully in a remote section of Sacred Falls State Park in Hauula. Star-Advertiser.

4 escape injury after chopper crash on Oahu’s North Shore. Four people miraculously escaped injury Tuesday morning after a state-contracted helicopter crashed in Sacred Falls Valley on Oahu’s North Shore. Hawaii News Now.

=====

Matson’s bigger cranes for bigger cargo ships arrive in Honolulu. Hawaii’s dominant ocean cargo transportation firm Tuesday began what is expected to be a more than two-month process of installing three bigger and more powerful gantry cranes at its container handling facility at the state’s busiest harbor. Star-Advertiser.

Matson unloads three cranes to advance modernization push. Matson Inc. set a new milestone in Honolulu Harbor as three new 65 long-ton capacity gantry cranes, the biggest ship-to-shore container cranes sent to a commercial Hawaii harbor, were delivered. Pacific Business News.

Hawaii Island

Governor Signs Volcanic Disaster Relief Bill For Hawaii County. The new law, now to be known as Act 9, appropriates $60 million for disaster recovery in the wake of the Kilauea volcanic eruption. Big Island Video News.

Council seeks proof that taxpayer money’s well-spent. A full 38% of the county’s proposed 2019-20 budget is eaten up by employee pensions, retirement, health insurance and payment on old debt, eroding the ability of the County Council and administration to pay for new services and initiatives. West Hawaii Today.

County preparing to address parking lot behind Agasa Furniture that has become a homeless camp. A small lot of land located between Ponahawai and Mamo streets has, during the past several months, gone from a vacant parking lot to a fenced-off collection of tents and makeshift structures. Tribune-Herald.

NHCH nurses, Queen’s in contract talks. As negotiations continue for a new contract between The Queen’s Health Systems and the nurses of North Hawaii Community Hospital, the president of the Hawaii Nurses Association says there are still some issues that need resolving, even as management is preparing to come back with its final offer. West Hawaii Today.

Lead Found In Hu Honua Discharge, Sierra Club Says. Cory Harden of the Sierra Club's Moku Loa group informed the Hawaii County Game Management Advisory Commission of their findings on Monday. Big Island Video News.

Experts say market should be stable and slow, which is good news. Matthew Gardner, Windermere Real Estate chief economist, delivered his forecast Monday during the inaugural Hawaii Island Economic Summit, hosted by Windermere C&H Properties, at the Courtyard King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. West Hawaii Today.Maui

Officials tour Maui jail. Five weeks after an inmate revolt at the Maui Community Correctional Center caused $5.3 million in damage, state and county officials toured the Wailuku facility Tuesday to check on repairs and security updates while promising to address overcrowding issues they blame for the unrest. Star-Advertiser.

Gov. Ige tours MCCC for a first-hand look at damage following riots, escapes. A month after an inmate uprising at the Maui Community Correctional Center, Gov. David Ige toured the facility for an update on repairs. Hawaii News Now.

=====

Mayor Michael Victorino announced today his selection of Steve Welling as deputy director of the Department of Public Works. Maui Now.

Maui retail vacancies hit record high in 2018. Report shows that new, existing retailers moving to new malls. Maui News.

Kauai

Old school produce. Rotary members built two wheelchair accessible raised garden beds at Kauai Care Center, and now residents are harvesting produce for their dinner table. Garden Island.

Kauai 'alert and warning' siren testing Wednesday 8am-5pm. It's just a test, a part of Hawaii's statewide "alert & warning system" used to notify the public during pending emergencies. KITV.

About Me

Nancy Cook Lauer has more than 25 years experience as a journalist, winning national and state awards for newspapers in Florida and Hawaii. She publishes a daily state government news aggregate and commentary blog, All Hawaii News. Vice President of the Hawaii SPJ chapter as well as former president of the Big Island Press Club, Lauer has a Master of Science degree in Library and Information Studies from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology, summa cum laude, from Old Dominion University. She earned her reporting chops covering the 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential election at Florida's ground zero and was recently honored with a Torch of Light award and a Hawaii state Senate commendation for uncovering questionable spending practices in local government.

I disclose

This policy is valid from 30 January 2009
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact nclauer@gmail.com.
This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.
The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org